favre post offices that i have been to -- many favorite post offices that i have been too, for architectural reasons. there is one in the back of a shop. few people know about it. the guide is sold me the big goals -- sold me the bagels also ran the post office and the bat. if you take the time to look around, you really do discover there is much more to it. in many cases, the post office is the embodiment of the community. without the post office, there is nothing to bind the people together. the post office has been vital to the founding of community is all throughout america. -- of communities all throughout america. perhaps i can inspire other people to go out, and if not go around to hundreds of post offices, at least look at theirs with more appreciation. >> a charming story. getting as many u.s. postmarks as he can. and a reminder of our main story tonight. north korea has called on the people to rally around the son of kim jong il after his death. he is being called the great successor. the news agency said that he suffered a heart attack on the train. his age was given as 69. people

a weekend of bad news for the plant and there's a connection between the financial problems of the post office and financial problems within the medicare program here's a hint poison pill more on this later tonight still a take. the crisis in fukushima continues over the weekend the crippled japanese nuclear plant spewed even more highly radioactive water into the pacific ocean roughly forty five thousand liters in all or new a french nuclear research institute since the focus on nuclear crisis began in march that plant has leaked more radioactive material into the ocean that has ever happened before in the history of the planet. not only that the architect of reactor three of focus shima spoke out recently criticizing tepco saying the company's explanations don't make sense any claims that more than eight months since an earthquake and tsunami triggered this crisis it's inevitable that nuclear fuel has leaked into the groundwater meaning the china syndrome is officially upon us or could he also warned that if underground water gets overheated it could trigger a hydro volcanic explosion

so i have to pay the post office not to send the mail to the house. >> wait a minute, you pay the postice not to send you mail. >> yeah, i had to get a po box. >> where are you going to get your mail? >> e-mail. >> just how bad is it for the post office? >> i wrote a song with my business partner, which was dealing with our frustration on how we deal with the u.s. post office in our business lives. >> that's right, it's so bad, a lady i met randomly wrote and recorded a song about her hatred of the post office ♪ that's not my job ♪ i'm sorry ♪ this messed up your day ♪ this is the work for which you are paid ♪ ♪. >> reporter: my god, the u.s. mail has lost the middle age suburban wigger mom. >> ♪ that's mott my job ♪. >> how many letter does i have to write you to never hear that song again? >> everywhere i look the post office was outnumbered. >> get out of here. get out. this is post office territory, get out of here. >> even the postmaster general is urging wide spread layoffs and closings by next year. luckily cliff had the perfect way to reboot the u.s. ps. >> that may be the next

please, go ahead. >> it is the post office. the post office is now everywhere. was in some ways, the next thing that happened after we settled the frontier. the post office is a way in which we connect with everybody. now, there are things that the post office should be doing to deal with these new realities. there is a whole bunch of things such as, think about, new markets for the post office. there are still things that actually have to be sent other than mail separate and apart from netflix, like drugs for elderly folk. if you could actually figure out a way that drugs could have a one-day delivery, you could save a huge amount of money in terms of drug costs and things like that. that would be a good push in terms of how does the post office deal with these new realities but yet still have that institution of everybody. >> one of the things we have seen in europe, ones privatization, which i don't personally favor. the other is diversifying the mandate for what the post office does. felix at reuters said that you could have essentially a banking public opti

the first reaction is, why post offices? if you take the time to look around, if you go out in the country, you will discover that there is much more to it. in many cases, the post office is the embodiment of the community. without the post office, there is nothing to buy in the community together. if i cannot save them, i hope that i can at least preserve their history through the postmarks i obtained in person. and perhaps inspiring other people to, if not to go around to the post offices around the country, to look at their own with more appreciation. >> he is on a mission to collect as many postmarks as he can. that brings today'show to a close. you can get constant updates on our website. you can go to facebook. for all of us here at world news america, thank you for watching. we will see you tomorrow. make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. union bank offers unique insight

and now we are seeing it with the post office. i think the post office as we know it is going to vanish in the next five years. >> it should vanish because of the other reason the post master general spoke about they're obsolete. we have email. we don't need them. they are not talking -- are now talking about cutting out overnight first class mail. if they can't deliver overnight mail who needs them? we once had the pony express, very romantic, wonderful stories. we don't have it anymore. we actually got the railroad and it took its place. the email now the internet is the new railroad. and it is simply absurd. what we want ought to do is privatize the delivery of mail. there is one objection to it and that is you have these little outposts. you have a post office in a rural area in idaho that wouldn't ordinarily be economical, fine. let the federal government adopt those orphan post offices. you want to have the country knit together with mail, that's fine. but have it subsidized private industry. you hand this over to fedex, to

favre post offices that i have been to -- many favorite post offices that i have been too, for architecturale in the back of a shop. few people know about it. the guide is sold me the big goals -- sold me the bagels also ran the post office and the bat. if you take the time to look around, you really do discover there is much more to it. in many cases, the post office is the embodiment of the community. without the post office, there is nothing to bind the people together. the post office has been vital to the founding of community is all throughout america. -- of communities all throughout america. perhaps i can inspire other people to go out, and if not go around to hundreds of post offices, at least look at theirs with more appreciation. >> a charming story. getting as many u.s. postmarks as he can. and a reminder of our main story tonight. north korea has called on the people to rally around the son of kim jong il after his death. he is being called the great successor. the news agency said that he suffered a heart attack on the train. his age was given as 69. people on the streets of p'

and it is at the post office. constitutionally we should have a public post office, and congress has got into our post office, and no one talks about the legislation during the bush administration while all the privatization was started and is continuing. host: why have you been following this issue so closely? caller: we watch free-speech tv, which is not subsidized by fedex or ups or any of those things. free-speech tv on direct tv, 348, channel 348 actually has a news. it has honest tax on it. if you -- host: we got it. joyce in texas. caller: the two former speakers hit the nail on the head. the lady just speaking of the man ahead of her. there are only two avenues. communication and transportation. it is either one of these -- if either one of these are monopolized, and that is what we have, then we will lose the constitutional right. the freedom of speech. the united states of america has not been awakened to the fact. if we did not fight for the postal service and our right to the postal service, we are goi

the guy who sells you bagels also operates the post office.the post office has been a vital part of the founding of communities, and their everyday life. if i cannot save them, i can at least preserve their history, both through the post marks a game in person, the photographs i take, and perhaps inspiring other people to if not go around to hundreds of post offices, at least look at theirs with a little more appreciation. >> the mission to collect as many u.s. postmarks as he cared. before we go, argentina has been battling dollars and euros being taken out of the country by currency speculators. their solution includes specially trained dogs. it has been so successful, authorities have renewed the contract. around 300 dogs began working last june. since then, they have found over a million and a half dollars hidden in cars and luggage. >> you have been watching the bbc. i am in singapore. >> i am in london. thanks for joining us. all of the stories are on line at the bbc news website. seymour on the death of kim jong il. good to have you wit

busy, and the police presence in regions and not post-thanksgiving -- it was post-thanksgiving rush, and it was incredibly busy. everyone was going back to their places, and i want to acknowledge the good job done by those at the airport on sunday. >> i appreciate that. i will pass that on, and if we could get a break from the fog, that would be great. >> thank you for letting us know the survey results. i think it is great that they put together the survey based on our request. here's support training is one of the top suggested. i just wonder what you might recommend to address the feedback. >> #9 speaks about dr. kevin martin. he is doing a presentation in january to the department, and i know that in pretty much everyone of the conferences i have had, and i think we have all had one right now, and it may not have been a stressor and nobody has really been taken into consideration. i think it is good that this commission looks at that. that is of primary concern to the commission so we do not have folks who go in the downward spiral. >> what is the status right now of the recommen

post-certified backgrounds, as long as they appear to standards, which post -- as long as they have taken that course, backgrounds can be considered post-certified backgrounds. some of our guys were having backgrounds done by a licensed to background investigator that has post-certified surface -- and certificates, and they were told they were rejected for that reason. the other thing i will bring up to you, i don't have time. and i forgot my glasses. i dropped off a couple of cds for everybody. i hope you will take a look at them. [chime] officers have various certificates. he's stretching back years and they run the gamut of just about every post class that was offered. we have said that we are not trained, not brought up the proper standing. if you look through these, a think you will realize there are a lot of certificates. some of our guys could not provide them because they have moved into many times. one had a fire. >> i have to cut you off, i apologize. >> i will be happy to work with you anytime, anyplace as long as it is after 12:00 noon. >> any other public comment? at the item

thousands of post offices across america are facing closure. one new yorker is rushing to visit as many of them as he can. >> when i graduated, i realize i really wanted to see more of america, and because i grew up in the vague -- in the big city. over time, i began to start documenting some interesting experiences. there are so many favorite post offices i have been to for many different reasons. there is some of the old 1930's depression era of post offices. it is a little sliver of land. it is quite photogenic. the post office has been a vital part of the founding of communities and their everyday lives throughout america, so i do hope i can at least preserve their history, through the post marks i obtained in person and photographs i take and inspiring others to go around with a little more appreciation. >> his mission is to collect as many u.s. postmarks as he can. an ambitious plan to expand subsidized food program to cover almost 2/3 of the population. this is expected to increase the government's food bill by more than $5 billion. crit

in the post office. i had already invited the southern district post master general.spot for me, but when you told me of your protest, i thought-- wouldn't it be splendid if he were met here by your outpouring of song and feeling. we shall outpour, miss lane. but where is he? ♪ all: not yet! yes, now! look! ( horse whinnies ) ♪ when the trumpet of the lord shall sound ♪ ♪ and time shall be no more ♪ ♪ and the morning breaks eternal bright and fair ♪ ♪ when the saved of earth ♪ shall gather over on the other shore ♪ ♪ and the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ i'll be there ♪ when the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ when the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ when the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ when the roll is called up yonder ♪ ♪ i'll be there ( all chatting ) ( adult laura ) miss lane was always a stickler for post office regulations... especially when it suited her. life in candleford was once more safely restored to the rhythms of ordinary life. our own particular brand of ordinary life. i love you, minnie. so do i. i mean-- i know what you mean. sometimes life offers us paths

>> greg: as much as we make fun of the post office, i love them for this.before in my life. i have only seen caroling in movies. if i ever saw a group of people in sweaters at my door, i'd let loose the dog. i don't want -- what right do you have -- i don't like occupy wall streeters going the target and harassing people. this is a form of harassment. it's just in fuzzy sweaters. god bless the post office. >> dana: save me. >> kimberly: i can't believe you. you should change your name to bah humbug. you are so scrooge. >> greg: where do you carolers? >> bob: i caroled, actually. in my neighborhood. yeah. >> kimberly: it's totally fun. you have hot chocolate and cookies. >> bob: i did last weekend. >> greg: you didn't. >> bob: i swear i did. the hallucination could happen all the time. next week thaw will print newspaper at my house. all my lights. i'll bring it to you next week. >> dana: i have question about the post office. >> bob: i sang, offkey but i sang. i think it's a nice thing that people sing. i know there are regulations but c'mon. >> dana: there

among them philadelphia's original ben franklin post office. franklin founded what has evolved into today's postal service in 1775. all told with the cuts announced today plus those proposed, nearly 100,000 jobs are on the line. joining me now to discuss these changes is u.s. postmaster general, patrick donahoe. welcome to the program. we heard the vice president of the postal service today talk about excess capacity and that the closings of these service centers are about reducing capacity. could he define that for us. >> the way we sort mail today, gwen, is we've got 485, 487 to be exact facilities across the country. these facilities sort mail in a 24-hour time frame but re really only use them about 12 hours a today. what we're looking to do to save money-- well over $2 billion-- is to consolidate a substantial number. we're operating them on a 20- hour window. >> ifill: is that proposal... is that what is driving that excess capacity? is that what is driving this $14 billion projected loss you're talking about today? >> what's happened is

global post is about ground truth. that is the best example i've seen of a movie reel of ground truth. that person with that camera in their hand was on the ground there reporting the story, and that's what we need whether it's on the web or it's in a newsroom. >> now your theo may or your ann curry can take their flip phone and do it in real-time. and there you have it: more information more available to more people than ever in human history. charles sennott, global post, thanks. >> thank you. >> ann curry, nbc. as always, tremendous. thank you. >> a pleasure. @=@y

i agree that these should be treated the same, the pre k and the post k. you are the body that makes decisions. the idea of lowering the age of the pilot program, which i very much believe should be continued, to those people who are 60, 64, it was really debated. it may just be an error in transcription. what you received truck that out. i think that error in transcription, if it was not deliberate, should be corrected, and then let's see. i think the program should be continued. something has to happen with the people on the list for those who have been waiting for a certain number of years, some sort of graduated program. i was something like 99, and they did away with my list, and did. there can be some balance, but please continue the pilot program, and please do not hurt these senior citizens who have high costs in maintenance now, and they are the ones who really took the risk and had an illegal taking of their property to begin with. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: reading names] chairman nolan: good afternoon, mr. smith.

the widespread post office closings has been put off until may 15. that is to give congress time to try to come up with alternatives. we are talking about 38 million square feet of space. that is the equivalent of 200 walmart centers. >> sally kidd takes a look at how the properties will be handled as they go up for sale. >> do you want to buy a post office? from snowy savage, minnesota to miami, florida dozens of post office properties are up for sale. built in 1939, in this post offices on the national register of historic places. it features 14 ft ceilings and it works process mural that dates back to 1941. >> the fact of the matter is, our network is too big. we have more capacity and our network that we can afford. >> as the postal service downsizes, what is to become of the facilities once the doors are closed for good? >> the first thing that comes to mind is a chalky cheese. where a starbucks. >> the post office is showcasing properties on their website. >> a beautiful old historic building like this could be we developed and a be profitable.

if it keeps the post office afloat, keeps us having a post office, i can live with that. >> reporter: blame e-mail and the internet. in ten years first class mail volume has dropped 29%. it's forecast to drop another 50% by 2020 and every 1% drop equals $300 million in revenue. now on the verge of bankruptcy it's raising the cost of a first class stamp by a penny starting in january. it wants to close 3,700 post offices. it plans to close half the nation's mail processing centers while it cuts 28,000 jobs and asks congress for permission to cancel saturday delivery. >> we are looking to reduce costs by $20 billion. that gets us back in good financial state, gets our finances good and stable going forward. >> reporter: the question, by making snail mail slower, does that push the post office closer to being obsolete? it is important to remember that we still pay 45 cents to mail a letter in maine and it will arrive in san diego three days later. clearly we still need the post office but maybe not quite as much. brian? >> tom costello in d.c. for us tonight. tom, thanks. >>> now we turn

medallions, regardless of age and regardless of pre or post k. please give us transfer rights for our families. we have no benefits. we have no pensions. everything we do, we live from day to day. if something happens, our families have nothing. i urge you to consider the transfer rights so that our families can sell the medallions if something happens. i think you very much. -- thank you very much. chairman nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> in the first years, there was regulatory neglect, and the lack of foresight and oversight in particular led to where the medallion permitting mechanism had been integrated so badly it was sort of vague kafka-esque. at retirement age when their name came up, and yet there is a full-time driving requirement. in the consequence of this malfeasance policy, it led to major accidents, big insurance liability payouts. general industry dysfunction. we had a couple of suicides are even more by k medallion holders and did not want to go through the humiliation to get the medallions ba

postal service might also close 4,700 local post offices nationwide. there are a lot of mites aghmig mays in today's announcement. they're waiting to see if the restructuring is doable. it's pretty much a done deal at this point. in san jose, they've taken up the distribution center for the city of salinas. whatever they were doing as far as distributing the mail, they are doing that out of here in san jose. big changes from the u.s. postal service. live in san jose, i'm damian trujillo. >> that affects us all. thank you so much, damian. >>> meanwhile, a new crop of cadettes will start training in oakland. >> haven't had a new class of recruits since layoffs last year. christie smith spoke to the mayor and chief of police. she joins us now with the latest. >> reporter: welcome back was the phrase we heard most often in this press conference that just wrapped up a couple of minutes ago. these potential officers were very close to become police officers, but then they were laid off. this is the first academy, as you said, to move through the city of oakl

global post is about ground truth. that is the best example i've seen of a movie reel of ground truth. that person with that camera in their hand was on the ground there reporting the story, and that's what we need whether it's on the web or it's in a newsroom. >> now your theo may or your ann curry can take their flip phone and do it in real-time. and there you have it: more information more available to more people than ever in human history. charles sennott, global post, thanks. >> thank you. >> ann curry, nbc. as always, tremendous. thank you. >> a pleasure. >> and join us many of this region's hill towns date back to etruscan times, well before ancient rome. others date to the fall of rome. when rome fell, europe was engulfed in chaos. people naturally grabbed for the high ground to escape the marauding barbarians that characterized those dark ages. over time, these towns were fortified and eventually functioned as independent city-states. in their glory days, they proudly charted their own course, generally free

and at brentwood post office. >> dear, santa. i'm writing this to make my kids christmas merry. >> reporter: that's exactly what folks are doing. >> i've been here for 11 years and never seen this many letters. >> it's a program we can't afford to stop doing. >> reporter: serita bush helped sort through hundreds of letters addressed to santa and play santa. but this year, instead of lavish gifts, many are just asking for basic necessities. >> we're getting a lot of requests for food. the children are not just asking for gifts for themselves, they're asking for gifts for their parents. they're actually asking for coats, gloves, hats, pajamas, underwear. >> i always have to sell my food stamps to pay bills. then i go find food to feed my kids. >> reporter: postal workers say the need is the most severe they've seen in the 20-plus years of the program. >> i've been putting in for jobs. no one has called me yet. >> reporter: another reason why playing santa this year means much more than just putting a few presents under the tree. >>

not exactly thrilled amber you a spokesperson for privacy rights clearinghouse told the huffington post quote one day it's collected locations for the nearest a.t.m. but tomorrow it might be selling that location data to a third party advertiser for profit of course denies any such intentions and says they're just trying to help customers to find a.t.m.'s more easily but the most troubling part of the story is not that one bank has decided to track you when you log on to their website but that the move from companies to collect as much personal data as possible about consumers is not just a one off thing this is a business model and it's not just tech giants and banks who want to profit off your personal information just recently we told you about two models who were tracking their customers through their cell phone signals and both horizon and apple have admitted to tracking users locations horizon informed users last month that it will be tracking the location to. sell it to website websites and advertisers apple has amassed vertical goldmine of user information now if you notice one

just look for washington post live forms. if you enjoy today's conversation, i encourage you look for a full session dedicated to leadership news and analysis. it is called "on leadership." with the help of the editor, you will see many interviews, round tables, and multimedia analysis on leadership. finally before we get started, with the awards ceremony, i like to thank our partners. harvard kennedy school senator -- center for leadership. you can find the names in your programs. ford's theatre for hosting us in this historic space, and you'll hear more from them later today. and helton worldwide, a leader in the hospitality industry and in the community they serve. and in the dc region where they are now based. we're for and pat hilton -- we are fortunate to have hilton as a partner. and now hand you over to our pulitzer-prize-winner editor, a former correspondent in tokyo, mexico, and london, please welcome mary jordan. [laughter] [applause] he >> thank you. let's start right into this exceptional program. it is not every

the post office will doubtless expand. what are we to pass on to future generations, those who come after us? we will give them... capolca! "i don't want her to be our teacher. i want her to be our ma." it ain't them resisting. it's you. i've seen it coming. you want me here, in the home, baking, washing, a wife and no more. i am telling you what our children told me. does that not matter to you? frank thinks you are favoring other boys over him, and it hurts him. can't you see that that matters? it is an awkward situation, you being in the school. only because it is new! that kind of mishap-- i will get better at it, that's all. em, you can't imagine being the teacher. you are a mother. you have chosen this life. did i? no one imprisoned you. i did not know i had a choice! i am a poor girl from a hamlet family. our laura is allowed to fly, but not me. in my time i was a maid, a nurse to other people's children. i followed it all like clockwork, but i knew i was capable of more. i did not know there was some other life. if

staff posted a flyer stating that it violated the honor code. a spokesperson says students can still wear the skinny jeans on campus. >>> the harry potter franchise clogsing up shop do you think daniel -- closing up shop do you think daniel rat cliff will have trouble find agnew gig? >>> one occupy wall streeter lands a job working with the 1%. let's go to new york for this morning's tech bites. >> reporter: in today's tech bites android narrows the app gap down loading a billion soft wear am kateors. market passed 10 billion down loads and celebrating by offering some apps at 10 cents a piece. video games on mobile devices are getting an upgrade new software from online let's you play more graphically intense games. it uses cloud exuding -- computer and delivering them over the internet. hp is about to blowout more of the discontinued touch pads the tablets will go on sale on ebay this sunday at 7 p.m. eastern at 99 dollars each. and a study by parenting magazine finds 90% of mothers say they have friended their kids on facebook mostly to keep

recently i talked with patrick donahue the post master general.ut 9 billion in the red this year and lost 20 billion in the last four years and i guess it's e-mail doing it to you. >> it's two things, bill, you're right. we've got a lot to e-mail and people pay bills online and other thing we're required to pre fund employee health benefits, 5.5 billion a year. >> you're paying 3 billion dollars a year in retirement health pensions, not health, but pensions and 8 billion in health benefits for a whopping total of 11 billion dollars, you're paying former postal employees. the question tonight, what is a post office dilemma tell us about big government? joining us from washington, fox news analyst charles krauthammer. it always comes back to this, in the public sector, they run out of money and the taxpayers can't keep up and the pensions and health benefits bankrupting states and we saw it in wisconsin and ohio and now the post office. i think the post office as we know it is going to vanish in the next five year. >> it should vanish because the ot

on the russian markets posting modest gains this solved my six is flat but the r.t.s. is gaining point four percent that's not have a look at some of the individual share moves in the mice it's most oil majors are on the rise supported by stronger crude oil gaining points seventy percent of gas from the flight the company has finalized belorussians. gas pipeline or brighter. and they're all cyclical is gaming point eight percent the sound. hole russia is the largest country in the world and is home to the second biggest railway system after that of the united states but the lack of high speed trains means the railways is no alternative to flying speaking and frost the head of russian railways like to me corn has invited foreign railway giants to help change the situation. we're going to hold a tender in building the country's first high speed rail road the next year but it's an absolutely new project russia will foresee a lot of problems and that's why we're just incorporating with companies who know how to build and manage high speed rail ways but if we offer opportun